Game



Sept. ll, 1962 H, G. Moss 3,053,537

GAME

Filed DSC. 28, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l :1v1/wrox ,ifa/v1 y 6. Moss ATTOPNEYS Sept 11, 1962 H. s. Moss 3,053,537

GAME

Filed Dec. 28, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. far/g/ 6. M055' .IT TURA/E YJ' United States Patent Ohfrce 3,053,537 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 3,053,537 GAME Harry G. Moss, Hamden, Conn., assigner of one-third to Gertrude R. Sperling and one-third to Charlotte F. Moss, New Haven, Conn.

Filed Dec. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 862,303 10 Claims. (Cl. 273-137) This invention relates to games, and more particularly to games which are played with movable pieces to form words.

An object of this invention is to provide a game which is interesting and instructive and which may be played solitaire or by several persons, each playing the others hand or deck successively as in duplicate bridge, or by several persons playing pieces consecutively from their own hand in competition with each other.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wordbuilding game having several different classes or kinds of pieces, some having thereon single letters of the alphabet, others having thereon equispaced two letters forming word-parts and others having equispaced three or more letters forming word-parts, which pieces may be juxtaposed in such relation as to form words.

Preferably, the multi-letter pieces carry groups of letters which more or less frequently are found juxtaposed in words of the language for which the game is designed, thereby increasing the possible number of words which can be `formed with predetermined numbers of pieces of each of the several kinds.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of the playing pieces with rotatable carriers for the letters, thereby permitting the sequence of the letters on each piece to be reversed. For instance, after a piece carrying the letters LAC is bodily turned 180, the letter-carrying pieces may likewise be rotated 180 so that the letters will be upright and read CAL If the word is to be read perpendicularly, after the pieces are bodily turned to lie in the desired direction the letter'carrier may be rotated to cause the letters to be upright. The piece referred to can therefore be made to read from top to bottom L C AorA C L With the provision of rotatable letter carriers, the player is able to place the piece in forming words as in crossword puzzles using letters of a previously formed word to complete the additional word and yet be able to read the words directly and naturally.

The letter carriers on the single-letter pieces need not be rotatable since the piece itself can be placed so as to be read upright.

The scoring may be done according to any prescribed rules. Preferably, the value of the score for forming a word is related to the number of letters contained in the word so that the longer the word formed by the player the higher the score; and there may be a penalty applied for pieces left in the players hand which at the end play cannot be used to form a word,

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings- FIGURE l is a plan View of a single-letter piece;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a double-letter piece;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section of a single-letter piece;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section of a double-letter piece;

FIG. 5 is a composite view representing some of the pieces which may be drawn down to form a hand;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a crossword pattern formed by using, in addition to others, the pieces shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, showing a different pattern made with the same pieces as those used in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIGS. 6 and 7, showing the same pieces used to form another different pattern; and

FIG. 9 is a transverse sectional View showing the construction of a piece having a rotatable lletter carrier which is located beneath the surface of the piece.

The game of this invention, in the embodiment selected as exemplary thereof, comprises a plurality of playing pieces of three different kinds. There are forty-eight square pieces 10 carrying a single letter as, for instance, the pieces 10a carrying the letter 0, the pieces 10b carrying the letter E as indicated in FIG. 5. There are thirty rectangular pieces Il having the same width as the square pieces Slt) but these have twice the length and each has two letters side by side as, for instance, the pieces 11a carrying the letters W and E, the pieces 1lb carrying the letters R and 'I`, the pieces llc carrying the letters A and 1, and the pieces lld carrying the letters N and G as shown in FIG. 5'.

There are provided eighteen rectangular pieces 12 having the same width as the pieces It) and lllL but having three times the length and each piece 12. carries side by side three letters, as, for example, the piece 12a which carries the letters 13, R and 0, and a piece 12b which carries the letters L, A and C.

v In the broader aspects of this invention, there may be any desired number of diiterent pieces. The letter arrangements on the several pieces are optional, bearing in rnind only that they must be capable of forming words in the particular language for which the game is designed. Also, there may be longer pieces, for instance such as would carry in equi-spaced relation four, live or more letters.

Orf course, there may be a larger or smaller number of triple-letter pieces l2 or double-letter pieces 1l. or single-letter pieces llt?.

A selection of pieces and the letter designations thereon lwhich has proven very satisfactory in practice is given elow.

48 single-letter pieces:

A (5); B (3); D (3); E (8); F (1); G (2); I (4); I (1); K (1); L (1); M (20);N (1); 0 (6);T (2); U (3); V (1); W (1); X (1); Y (1); Z (1)- 30 double-letter pieces:

WE TH YE, ND TR FA DE SP GO ST OO WH IN MI AI FL AT AN LY SH TI AM EI NG IO CH LI QU NK MO 18 triple-letter pieces:

RUS LAC ION IVE CER TED PAR TRA FOR DIS CIT NER REL CON ESS ATE PER PRA The letter designations are provided on rotatable carriers 13 so that they may be read upright from left Vto right or from right to left horizontally and from bottom to top or top to bottom perpendicularly. The singleletter pieces need not have the letter carrier 13 rotatably mounted since by merely rotating the piece itself it may be made to read regardless of how it is played. For convenience in manufacture, however, it is considered preferable at this time to mount the letter carriers 13 for the single-letter pieces in the same manner as they are mounted on the double and triple-letter pieces.

In one form of this invention, that at present preferred, as shown in FIG. 9, the pieces are made of plastic material and molded so as to have a circular cavity 14 on both faces. Each letter carrier 13 consists of a disk of material, preferably plastic material, on which the letter is embossed or imprinted and which is circular so as to fit Within the circular cavity 14 of the piece. The letter carrier 13 is fastened to the piece by a rivet 15 which passes through a hole in the piece and is spun over or upset on the opposite side of the piece. The rivet 15 may have a shoulder 16 so as to permit the rotation of the carrier 13 relative to the piece. A friction washer 17 may, as shown, be inserted between the disk and the piece to hold the disk against accidental turning. In the case of the single-letter pieces 1t), the rivet 15 may if desired be provided without the shoulder s0 as to more positively hold the carrier from rotating. The face of the letter carrier 13 may have a marginal edge treated as by providing serratons 11m thereon to facilitate the rotation of the carrier in making the letter read upright, depending on the position in which the piece lies in play.

While FIG. 9 illustrates the form of the piece at present preferred, the pieces 10, 11 and 12 may be plain blocks 1S as shown in FIGS. l and 4, in which case the letters are imprinted on carriers 19 consisting of a piece of cardboard 20 having a protecting metal edge 21. The cardboard is provided with a central aperture and a tack 22 is passed through the aperture and driven into the block 18 in such manner as to permit the letter carrier 19 to be rotated.

In playing the game, the pieces 10, 11 and 12 are arranged face down and shuiled so that their identity is lost. Each player withdraws or is dealt from the bank a predetermined number of single-letter pieces 10, a predetermined number of double pieces 11 and a predetermined number of triple pieces 12. In the examples herein given by way of illustration, each player picks at random two triple pieces, four double pieces and eight single pieces and this constitutes a playing set or hand.

Assuming for the purpose of explanation that the game is to be played solitaire or in case the play is Vsimilar to duplicate bridge which will be later described, a player endeavors to obtain the highest score from the pieces which he obtained, the player selects from the pieces which he has obtained from the bank such pieces as he considers will make words juxtaposed crossword fashion either horizontally or vertically and such additional words as can be formed by juxtaposing other pieces either horizontally or vertically in combination with pieces already played.

By way of example, it may be assumed that the player obtain from the bank all the pieces shown in FIG. 6, and after due consideration has arranged them as shown, forming one eight-letter word PLACATED, one fiveletter word PRONG, two four-letter words PORT and LIVE and two three-letter Words YEW and LAIIdQ The rules made for playing in this and the following examples are as follows, and this is only by way of explanation, it being understood that any rules suitable to the players may be prearranged:

The value of each word is determined by multiplying the number of letters in a word by the next higher number. For example, a two-letter word scores 6 (2 multiplied by 3); a three-letter word scores 12 (3 multiplied by 4); a four-letter word scores 20 (4 multiplied by 5). Thus, in the example given, the score for the word PLACATED would be 72 points; the score for the word PRONG would be 30 points; the score for the word YEW would be l2 points. For the vertically arranged words, the score for the word PORT would be 20 points; the score for the word AIL would be 12 points; and the score for the word LIVE would be 20 points. Thus the total score would be 166.

In placing the pieces, `the player would rotate the letter carriers 13 on the pieces so that they would read upright whether they were arranged horizontally or vertically or rightside up or upside down.

The fascination and interest which may be had by the game of the present invention is illustrated by referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 in which the identical pieces are shown in different arrangements making different words and producing different scores. For instance, in FIG. 7 there are no eight-letter words-there are four four-letter words, one three-letter word and one seven-letter word, giving a total of 148 points. However, the letter Y was unused and that would cause a penalty of 5 points, malo ing a score of 143 points-J3 points less than the score with the pieces arranged as shown in FIG. 6.

IContrasted with this, the arrangement of the pieces shown in FIG. 8 would produce a score of 192 points, it being understood that the identical pieces are used. For instance, as shown in FIG. 8, there are two eight-letter words-the word PROWLING and the word CAL- ENDAR. There are three three-letter words and two two-letter words.

In making the arrangements shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, it will be noted that the piece 12b having the letters arranged L, A, C in FIG. 6 has the letters arranged C, A, L in FIG. 8, and this of course is done by rotating the letter carrier 13 relative to the piece. It also will be noted that the piece 11e which contains the letters L A has the letters arranged in that order in FIG. 7 but in the reverse order in FIG. 6, that is A, L In FIG. 6, the piece 11a carrying the letters E, W is arranged in horizontal position and in that order. In FIG. 7, the piece 11a is arranged perpendicularly and has the letters arranged in the order of W, E. Thus it will be seen that by providing the playing pieces with rotatable letters, the order of the letters may be varied so as to read upright from right to left or from left to right, or from top to bottom or bottom to top.

It may be, of course, that a player draws pieces from the bank which it cannot use in the pattern to form words. In such cases, 5 points may be deducted from the score for each letter on the unused pieces whether the letters be single pieces 10, double pieces 11 or triple pieces 12.

In playing the game in the manner of duplicate bridge, each player having drawn down or been dealt the number of `different pieces according to the rules, places the pieces in the best arrangement be can within a predetermined time limit to get the highest score, and a record is made of his score. Afterall the players have completed their play they rotate about the table, one player taking the group of pieces or hand of the other player, endeavoring to get the highest score with the same pieces which were used by the first player. This continues until each player has played with each group of pieces drawn down by the respective players, and the player having the highest total score is declared the winner.

In this `form of play, the players need not be seated around a table but may `be situated in different parts of the room, or even in different rooms, arranging the pieces on boards or their laps or other supports.

The game may also be played in direct competition between several players, each player playing one or more pieces at a time against the pattern formed by the preceding plays, and in this case the score would be determined by the value of the word which the player is able to form or complete, the winner being the player with the highest score at the end of the hand Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

What is claimed is:

1. A game having a plurality of groups of individual relatively movable playing pieces having rectangular faces displaying letters of the alphabet with at least some of said lletters being adjustably mounted thereon, the pieces in all the groups having substantially the same width and thickness, each of the pieces in one Igroup having a length equal to its width and displaying respectively single letters of the alphabet, each of the pieces in a second group having a length equal to twice its width and displaying in `a line two letters of the alphabet forming word.parts, and each of the pieces of the third group having a length three times its width and displaying in a line three letters `of the alphabet forming word-parts, said pieces being adapted to be placed in coplanar matching relation edge to edge in horizontal and perpendicular rows to align the letters displayed thereon to collectively form words readable from one side of the collection of pieces.

2. The game `as defined in claim l, in which each letter on the multiple-letter pieces is displaced on a carrier and each carrier is mounted on its playing piece for rotation whereby the letters may be made to read upright from left to right in horizontal rows `and from top to bottom in perpendicular Arows in forming words regardless of the orientation of the piece in the word.

3. A word game comprising a plurality of separate relatively movable rectangular playing pieces each displaying a plurality of letters of the alphabet which frequently are juxtaposed in words of the language for which the game is designed, some of said pieces displaying in juxtaposition two consonants and others of said pieces displaying in juxtaposition two vowels and still others of the pieces `displaying consonants and vowels juxtaposed, said vowels and consonants on the several pieces being of uniform size and being equspaced on the pieces, said letters being adjustably mounted on the pieces whereby the pieces may be juxtaposed in `abutting relation to form 5 words of equispaced letters readable from one side irrespective of the orientation of the pieces in the Word.

4. A word game as dened in claim 3, having additional pieces displaying single letters of the alphabet, some of said single-letter pieces each containing single consonants and others of said single-letter pieces each containing `a single vowel, the letters of said pieces being of the same size as those displayed on said multi-letter pieces, ysaid single-letter pieces being adapted to` be juxtaposed against or interposed between other single-letter pieces and multi-letter pieces to `form words.

5. A word game as dened in claim 3, in which each of said multi-letter pieces displays a dierent combination of letters from the others.

6. A word game as defined in claim 3, in which the multi-letter pieces are divided into two groups, one group displaying two letters and the other group displaying three letters.

7. A word game as defined in claim 3, in which Said adjustable mounting of the letters is achieved by mounting each letter of the several pieces on a rotatable letter carrier so Ias to be manually movable, if necessary, to position the lette-r for upright reading regardless of the way in which it is juxtaposed with other pieces.

8. A game as dened in claim 6, in which there are substantially more two-letter pieces than three-letter pieces.

9. A `game as dened in claim 4, in which there are substantially more multi-letter pieces than single-letter pieces.

10. A game according to claim 4, in which there are eighteen three-letter pieces, thirty two-letter pieces and forty-eight single-letter pieces.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Mager Nov. 30; 1915 Romani June 12, 1956 

